CBE moving closer to building P3 schools

Delays and confusion over the provincial government's funding of school construction have opened the door to public-private partnerships, or P3, schools in Calgary.

Public school trustees agreed Tuesday night to invite businesses and organizations to express their interest in building new schools and it came after the CBE decided to start the process to build six new schools in the city.

Board chair Gordon Dirks says the province has told school boards to find alternative ways to build schools - because it doesn't have the money to do it. The CBE wants to explore the P3 model.

"If there are interested individuals or businesses or organizations in the calgary area that would like to help us build schools we're certainly open to consider their expression of interest to make that happen."

Before introducing the motion, administrators told board members of a sketchy timeline for provincial funding for six new schools.

The province's staggered release of the funds means the board will have enough money to design all six schools, but only enough to start building three of them - those being an elementary school in Coventry Hills, a junior high in Crossing Park and a middle school in McKenzie Lake.

Trustee Sharon Hester says the constant confusion over the schedule is the reason why the board is looking elsewhere for money.

"The delay really puts a strain on our communities that are waiting out there," Hester said. "If that's going to be the future behaviour of the government with their funding upfront, I don't think we should really depend on that."

The board is accepting expressions of interest for P3 school construction until December 15th.

• INDEPTH: School Boards